The Grains food group

It is time to discuss the grain food group. My information about this group comes again from Choose My Plate. Any food made from wheat, rice, oats, cornmeal, barley or another cereal grain is a grain product. Bread, pasta, oatmeal, breakfast cereals, tortillas, and grits are examples of grain products. The grain food group has two subgroups called the whole grains and the refined grains. Whole grains consist of whole wheat flour, brown sugar, and oatmeal because they contain the entire grain kernel. Refined grains do not contain the whole kernel and are made to last longer. White rice, white bread, and white flour are examples of refined grains. According to the website is BETTER to WHOLE GRAINS instead of refined grains. This is a chart to help people find their daily recommendation of grain intakes. For women ages 19-30 it recommends six ounces daily and for men ages 19-30 it is eight ounces. I know it might be hard to think about how many ounces you’re eating, but here’s what counts as an ounce. One slice of bread counts as one ounce, one small flour tortilla (6" diameter) is one ounce, and one large bagel is equal to four ounces. If you are unsure about what counts as an ounce, please look at the chart. It will provide some helpful answers.

Eating whole grains provides many nutritional health benefits. Here are a few of them:

·         Consuming whole grains as part of a healthy diet helps reduce the risk of heart disease.

·         Eating whole grains may help with weight management. (This totally surprised me!)

·         Eating grain products fortified with folate before and during pregnancy helps prevent neural tube defects during fetal development.

·         Grains are important sources of many nutrients, including dietary fiber, several B vitamins (thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, and folate), and minerals such as iron, magnesium, and selenium.

·         Dietary fiber from whole grains or other foods, may help reduce blood cholesterol levels and may lower risk of heart disease, obesity, and type 2 diabetes. Fiber-containing whole grains help provide a feeling of fullness with fewer calories. (SWEET!)

If you have trouble with getting whole grains into your diet here are some tips to help. Remeber whole grains are better than refined grains. You should always try to eat whole grains!

1. Substitute a whole grain product for a refined product by eating whole wheat bread instead of white bread or brown rice instead of white rice.

2. Try substituting whole wheat or oat flour for up to half of the flour in pancake, waffle, muffin or other flour-based recipes.

3. Most importantly choose foods that name one of the following whole-grain ingredients first on the label’s ingredient list: brown rice, buckwheat, millet, oatmeal, quinoa, whole-grain barley, whole-grain corn, whole oats, whole rye, whole wheat, and wild rice.